ometimes, buzzwords are for real. Cloud computing is one such example: most will agree that theterm itself is overused and lacks a clear, universally accepted definition. But we can also agree on the impor-tance of understanding cloud computing’s likely impact on the application development process. Pretendingotherwise would constitute a serious breach of career-management duty.

In some quarters, that impact is expressed in the context of the emerging “DevOps” principle, which calls
for developers to use their programming powers to free themselves from the burden of IT operations. Cloud
computing, by almost any definition, is a key DevOps enabler.

Currently, the Java EE platform lacks the abstractions that allow Java developers to move confidently in that
direction. But with Java EE 7 (JSR-342; final release expected later in 2012), that will change—with the inclusion of updated APIs, roles, and more that will bring support for cloud service requirements such as multitenancy, elasticity, and scalability directly into the standard. As a result, apps written to target Java EE 7 app
servers (which will in fact become services themselves) will be much more natively cloud-aware than they are
today. What could be more DevOps-friendly than that?

Our interview with Cameron Purdy, Oracle vice president of Java EE development,
reveals the reasoning behind these efforts in more detail. (You can also review the
Java EE 7 JSRs.) And as usual, you’ll find this issue packed with informative,
actionable articles on other subjects as well—including wrap-ups of JavaOne Latin
America and Devoxx 2011, a Swing JLayer primer by Josh Marinacci, an introduction
to Java SE 7’s Project Coin features by Julien Ponge, and more. Enjoy it!

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